Revealed: the cheapest car to own and run

The most economical car to own and run in Australia isn’t exactly the most technologically advanced, a new survey has found.

In its annual Driving Your Dollars study released this week, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) deemed the Suzuki Alto to be the most affordable vehicle available to consumers in Australia.

At $115.58 a week, the diminutive petrol Suzuki costs half as much to run as an electric vehicle when factors including purchase price, depreciation, fuel costs, fuel consumption and servicing are taken into account.

The Suzuki Alto GL costs a relatively paltry $11,790 (plus on-road costs) to purchase, and is fitted with a 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol engine.

The cheapest car to own and run is not necessarily the most advanced, a new survey has found.

In fact, electric cars such as the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV ($245.21), Nissan Leaf (250.41) and Holden Volt ($282.54) were among the more expensive vehicles to own in the survey. All three were found to be more costly than a run-of-the-mill Holden Commodore Evoke ($219.62).

“Emerging electric cars continue to be hampered by their high purchase prices; they haven’t taken off in the market,” the RACV said.

The study found established hybrid vehicles, which use a combination of internal combustion and battery energy, to be more efficient than their regular petrol counterparts. But there were exceptions.

“Toyota Camry Hybrid has again proved its low operating costs can offset its slightly higher purchase price compared with the regular Camry. This isn’t the case with smaller hybrids which just can’t overcome their high purchase price.”

Diesel vehicles were found to be more economical in certain applications, too.

“In this year’s survey, we’ve included 12 models where there are petrol and diesel alternatives,” the RACV said.

“In six cases, petrol is cheaper to own, while six of the diesels cost less. In some instances, the difference is $80+ a week; in one, it’s just 10c. Generally, petrol suits passenger sedans but diesel works for a large SUV.”

The study cited recent advances in petrol engine technology, including forced induction and cylinder downsizing, as the other worthy fuel-saving innovations.

“Recent advances in petrol engine technology have brought their fuel consumption down significantly. A Volkswagen Golf with its advanced petrol engine has a claimed fuel consumption of 5.4L/100km, lower than many small diesels in our study,” the RACV said.

“These advances include adopting some of the technologies that have benefitted diesel for many years, such as direct injection and turbo-charging, plus the likes of start-stop – the engine temporarily turns off when the vehicle comes to a stop so it is not using fuel by idling unnecessarily.

“Then there are new technologies based around charging the car’s battery when the car is slowing down rather than when it is accelerating. This reduces the amount of fuel that is wasted keeping the car’s electrics running.

In isolation, these technologies give minor improvements in fuel use but in concert there can be notable improvements.”

Not surprisingly, larger capacity engines featured heavily in the most expensive vehicles to own and run. The Nissan Patrol ST-L wagon, which is powered by a 5.6-litre petrol V8, cost an average of $397.89 dollars a week, the survey found.

The costs were calculated on new financed vehicles driven 15,000km a year for five years. All vehicles were comprehensively insured, and calculations took into account general running costs including tyres, maintenance and servicing.